Emily Seebohm sobs in Tokyo after emotional rollercoaster

Emily Seebohm started sobbing after her last race of the Tokyo Games. Given all the Aussie swimmer has been through, it’s no surprise why.

Kaylee McKeown won gold but it was Emily Seebohm’s tears that tugged on Australia’s heartstrings.

McKeown claimed her second Olympic gold medal in the 200m backstroke final while Seebohm won her first individual medal since the London Games nine years ago by sneaking into third.

Along with Cate Campbell and Leisel Jones, Seebohm became just the third Australian swimmer to compete at four Olympics when she booked her ticket to Japan. That she even made it to Tokyo was incredible in itself, given all the 29-year-old has endured.

Qualifying fastest for the final, Seebohm was slow out of the blocks as the rest of the field zoomed past. But she put in a lung-bursting last 50m to scrape onto the podium in a performance that meant the world to her.

Interviewed by Channel 7’s Nathan Templeton after stepping out of the pool, Seebohm broke down when she tried to find the words to express how she was feeling. She started to sob as the weight of everything she’s been through in recent years slipped off her shoulders.

“It’s so amazing, I never thought this was going to happen again,” she said among the waterworks. “I just feel so lucky.

“I’m not a crier normally, I’m not a crier at all.

“I’m just so proud. The team has done so well and it’s an absolute dream to be on this team and I’m so grateful for all the times I’ve been on the Australian swim team. Honestly, it’s been the favourite thing of my entire career to be on this team.

“I feel a bit like wine, it gets better as it ages. I feel like a bit of a fine wine at the moment.”

Emily Seebohm was overcome with emotion.

She deserves all the praise she gets.

Love life in the spotlight as obstacles mount up

Arriving on the scene as a freakishly talented teenager, Seebohm made an immediate impact at her first Olympics as she helped the Australian 4x100m medley relay team win gold, then followed up with two more silvers in London.

A horse riding accident in 2015 resulted in a horrific dislocated knee that put the brakes on her career and more issues followed. Leading up to the 2016 Games in Rio, a wave of health problems left Seebohm sick and confused, before she was diagnosed with endometriosis.

Somehow, she still competed in Brazil – winning a relay medal but struggling in her individual events – and later admitted to feeling “flat and down in a dark hole”.

“Some days I just couldn’t get up. I just couldn’t make my body do it. I was too tired,” she told News Corp in 2017. “I wasn’t riding my horse, I couldn’t go to pole-dancing, I was doing none of that stuff I love to do and I missed the fun of it.

“I thought I was losing my mind. I would say … ‘This isn’t me. What’s wrong with me? Why am I struggling?’”

During her toughest times Seebohm leant on ex-boyfriend Mitch Larkin, himself a backstroker on the Australian swim team. But in 2018 their messy relationship breakdown played out in very public fashion as social media swipes and cryptic posts made Seebohm’s love life headline-grabbing news.

There were accusations of cheating and a determination on her part to “get on with my life, move on and (I) want nothing to do with him”. The saga dragged on because of the interest in what impact their bitter split would have on the rest of the Dolphins, and how the pair would co-exist on the same team.

Larkin is competing in Tokyo too but missed out on medals in his individual events.

Seebohm later embarked on a relationship with Brisbane radio host David “Luttsy” Lutteral, but that ended earlier this year.

Mitch Larkin and Emily Seebohm went through a bitter break-up.

The couple during happier times.

Seebohm opens up on body image struggles

Go back two years and Seebohm’s career was at a crossroads. The backstroke specialist didn’t make the Australian team for the 2019 World Championships in South Korea and it looked like her time wearing the gold cap may be over for good.

She changed coaches, leaving Brisbane to train under Michael Bohl on the Gold Coast, refusing to give up on her dream of competing at a fourth Olympics.

At the start of 2021, Seebohm revealed on Instagram she’d been dealing with an eating disorder for more than two years.

“I’ve binged, purged and taken laxatives. I’ve counted calories, skipped meals and constantly weighed myself,” Seebohm wrote. “I’ve been embarrassed to be in my togs. I have judged my body every time I have been in front of a mirror.

“I’ve been told that the only way I can swim faster is by losing weight and I have believed it.”

A butterfly inked on Seebohm’s wrist represents the Butterfly Foundation, which helps people struggling with eating disorders. Through all this, she was still charging towards Tokyo – even if not everyone shared her belief.

“A lot of people said that I wasn’t going to do it,” Seebohm told AAP in June. “I was too old. I needed to lose weight, I needed to look different.

“And I guess I just stuck to my guns and stuck to what I knew would work best for me.”

A bronze medal but Seebohm’s moment is pure gold

Seebohm was wise to shut out the haters. Just qualifying for Tokyo was an achievement to be proud of but that wasn’t enough for the four-time Olympian. Outgunned by nearly the entire field in the first 100m of the 200m final on Saturday, a podium looked like it might be a step too far.

But Seebohm found an extra gear in the third lap then roared to life in the final 50m, touching the wall third behind McKeown and silver medallist Kylie Masse from Canada.

Knowing the journey she’s been on, it’s no surprise she shed a flood of tears on the pool deck.

In commentary for Channel 7, Leisel Jones said: “The wave of emotion from Emily Seebohm in her post-race interview goes to show … the amount of hard work, the amount of ups and downs she’s had.

“It’s just been a huge challenge to get to this position. To get to your fourth Olympic Games and then get a bronze (is amazing).”